All hell will break loose if vernacular schools shut down, say education activists

BY ANISAH SHUKRY
Published: 28 September 2015 7:00 AM


National schools are a turn-off because of their outdated facilities, rigid syllabus, overcrowding and Islamisation, says an activist who believes in giving parents choice when it comes to schooling their children. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, September 28, 2015.

Despite Putrajaya’s assurances that Chinese and Tamil schools are here to stay, the recent “red shirt” rally reignited calls for the government to shut down vernacular schools for the sake of racial unity.

Long a subject of debate in multiracial Malaysia, advocates of single-stream education say all children should integrate under one school system, so as to expose them to the different ethnic communities in Malaysia from young.

But would closing down all the vernacular schools in the country really boost racial harmony? Some Malays in education groups and parent associations disagree, with one even saying “all hell will break loose”, especially in the current political climate.

Lawmaker Zairil Khir Johari, who leads DAP’s debates on education policies in the Dewan Rakyat, told The Malaysian Insider he believed it would serve no purpose at all.

“People say vernacular schools should be abolished because they are not multiracial. But Chinese schools are becoming even more multiracial than national schools now.

“In Kelantan, for example, the average number of non-Chinese pupils in Chinese schools is at 28%.”

He also argued that forcing all parents to send their children to just one type of school would not necessarily expose them to other races.

This was because many national schools would still be dominated by one ethnic community, because of demographics, he said.

“Let’s say you have a national school in a predominantly Malay area. Even if there were no vernacular schools in the country, the students in that particularly school would all still be Malays,” said Zairil.


Zairil Khir Johari, who leads DAP’s debates on education policies in the Dewan Rakyat, says Chinese schools are becoming even more multiracial than national schools now. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, September 28, 2015.

“So why push for just one school system? It serves no purpose. Instead, we should be advocating choice, a liberal education system, and more autonomy for schools.”

He said proponents of single stream schools were arguing based on emotions and assumptions rather than empirical evidence.

“The argument is that if our kids go to different schools, they can’t be united or mix together in the future. There is no evidence of this beyond people just assuming it.

“It sounds intuitive, but it’s actually not. Going by that argument, does that mean all graduates from Malay colleges are also racist?”

He said people became racists because of the values they were taught, not because of the school they went to or language they used.

The debate over vernacular education flares up in Malaysian politics every now and then, often as part of racial posturing by Malay nationalists.

Education groups The Malaysian Insider spoke to said closing down the schools would only worsen ethnic ties.

“If you start forcing parents to send their children to national schools, I think there’s going to be a civil war. It has to be natural, voluntary,” said Datin Noor Azimah Abdul Rahim, chairman of Parent Action Group for Education (PAGE).

She said that vernacular schools were protected by the Education Act 1996 and, based on different interpretations, the Federal Constitution itself.

Hence, if Putrajaya were to go against these two safeguards, the communities were likely to revolt, she said.

Shamsudin Hamid, the coordinator of the Association of Parents and Individuals towards Revising the Education System (ASPIRES), echoed her opinion.

“Their existence is allowed in the constitution. So if you shut it down, immediately, and in the current political climate, all hell will break loose.”

Both believed the government should focus on boosting the quality of national schools so that parents would prefer to send their children there on their own accord.

Vernacular schools would then experience a natural death, albeit for a long time to come, they said.

But even then, Azimah dismissed the notion that they were the source of Malaysia’s seemingly fragmented population.

“I don’t think they’re impeding unity at all. There are more than 1,000 vernacular schools in Malaysia compared with 10,000 national schools. So why get defensive?"

Shamsudin said parents should always be free to choose how they wished to bring up their children.

And for those who could afford to choose, national schools were a turn-off due to their outdated facilities, rigid syllabus, overcrowding and Islamisation, he said.

“You want all Malaysians to study in national schools?

“Stop driving the non-Malays away with the religious prominence in school, revise the curriculum, give teachers greater recognition, and improve the facilities,” said Shamsudin. – September 28, 2015.


http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysi...y-education-act

Nah. Thats extreamist/taliban view

Already stupid now wanna make other races stupid together.

Wait, all races are welcomed to join vernacular schools due to strict discipline and quality of education..

Why not abolish national school? Then make BM and Agama as compulsory electives for Malays. It'll bring up the iQ of next generations..

Try finish whole article.

if really want to shut down vernacular school, they can do it, but all national schools must have mandarin, english, tamil n BM as compulsory subject but still keeping pendidikan islam as compulsory to muslim only n other religion subject to non-muslim

for discipline part, teacher should be given permission to punish students if they do wrong n national school should adopt learning n teaching style from vernacular
kids nowadays become rude, uncivilized due to they think their rank are above teacher..no respect at all

EDITED: thanks to arubin for enlightened

This post has been edited by our_team89: Sep 28 2015, 04:03 PM

Perhaps you can try finish the article first before asking to shut down any school.

We've one good case study just next to our country. Like it or not Singapore had it right to a certain extent.

LoL

Want racial unity, but against combined and mixed schools that takes all races altogether.

Bodo

He is basically saying that the current educational system are not going to change for some unknown reason, as if the govt dont want improve the education system on purpose.

Thats a false dichotomy, if we can change the schools to have only one type, which is sekolah kebangsaan, what makes him think we cant improvise the syllabus at the same time?

Chineese schools promote unity? Hahahaha thats a first.

We tend to forget that the opportunity to improve is out there, if you are saying that only the chineese school can provide quality education, that means you are being biased towards racial based school system. Because we all know there are bright students coming from sekolah kebangsaan.

So no, his points are invalid, if chineese vernacular schools can provide some advantages over the current non vernacular schools, the next step is to assimilate these chineese school practices into the new syllabus for sekolah kebangsaan.

There are room for improvement, so dont be so complacent and get comfortable with the way things are. We are talking about our childrens future after all.

not asking to shut down vernacular school
just giving my opinion if the stupid gov still want to shut down the school

n yes i read that article

I really tak paham. Is vernacular schools really that good? Its not like all of their alums turn out to be first class citizen. And national school is not bad if you filtered out the sampah. OK maybe the sampah % in national school is higher but that does not mean vernacular schools are way superior.....

“I don’t think they’re impeding unity at all. There are more than 1,000 vernacular schools in Malaysia compared with 10,000 national schools. So why get defensive?"

U expect red shit monyet to understand this data??? And convert to information???

As a Chinese who attend Kebangsaan school, I don't mind if vernacular school shut down. But do keep in mind vernacular school is not the reason why there is racial tension. The reason is because of unfairness and racist policy in Malaysia.

It's not about learning Mandarin anymore. The way the SJKC managing their school is very different. They maybe very annoying in asking for money every now and then, but they will ensure everything stays relevant to the latest development. That's what make the difference.

Back in the 80's, SJKC and SK are both ok for the Chinese community. I have friends from SK that doesn't read Chinese. My wife couldn't even speak Mandarin. But my generation now is either sending their kids to private (international) or Chinese school. No one is sending their kids to SK anymore.

Nobody stopping gomen to upgrade kebangsaan school. U can continue to send yr kids there.
Juz let other have choice to continue their education.
Yup, thats is for our children.

Why not? Just adopt O level, UK or US standards, all speak English.

Malay, Chinese, Tamil, other languages can become optional selection.

In the eighties n early nineties, I was enrolled into national school. There were substantial non Malays in national schools that time coz the standard were perceived to be equal or just slightly inferior to vernacular schools.

Its not the vernacular schools are breeding racists, or non Malays just 'suddenly' decide to send their children to vernacular schools. Its not surprising if some Malays think this is a form of non malay rebellion against national unity.

It it the dropping standards of our national schools, creeping islamization, and yes, racism in our national schools. Used to be, teachers are racially mixed and teach because they want to impart knowledge. Nowadays, ppl work as teachers because they can't find other jobs. How to be a good teacher like that? What knowledge and attitude can they impart to the students? Compare that against vernacular school teachers. Do you know their performance are constantly reviewed? If the teacher can't perform, out you go.

Contrast that with our national school teachers. What happened to the racist female teacher in namewee's song? What happened to the teachers involved in the bulan puasa makan tandas fiasco?

You want vernacular schools to die off? Easy. Increase the national schools standard. Hire only dedicated teachers who teach coz they want to teach, not teach coz they can't find any other job (now this is a sweeping statement, i am sure there are teachers who are dedicated, but I leave it to you guys to see with your own eyes how is it with the national school teachers, what's the ratio between dedicated vs just teach just for sake of working). And leave racism out of national schools.

If national schools can produce BETTER quality students than vernacular schools, you don't need to shout close them, they will close themselves due to low enrollment.

Rather than close vernacular schools now and hope to fix the national school later, fix the national schools FIRST ffs!

If the dumbass malay nationalist didnt change english schools in malaysia to malay schools (and yes they are malay schools, they don't promote multiculturalism, they promote malay supremacy) vernacular schools would already be on the way out.

The asli study on vernacular school concluded that vernacular schools are not a hindrance to national unity

Typical hardcore vernacular school supporters will say SK low quality one

Try finish the article.

And ratio of vernacular school vs national school is 1:10